Just a quick question to make sure

SpectralMatter · 09-17-2006, 01:07 PM

I have a PC I would really like to reformat my drive on. It's just generally been bulked up with an outrageous amount of files accumulated over the years, and the idea of a clean slate is a really refreshing thought. Here's where the problem comes in. I recently moved, and in all that confusion, I've lost my original cd. We recently bought a computer from Gateway, and that came with a Windows XP Media Center reinstallation CD. I use Windows XP Media Center on the PC I would like reformatted, but it's custom built by myself, and I don't want to risk trying to reformat using this CD, if it's just going to come back to bite me. If this is impossible, could anybody recommend any other methods of doing this without the original cd? Or is this itself impossible?

Thanks in advance

anystupidname · 09-17-2006, 01:14 PM

When booting from a Windows install CD/DVD, you're giving a choice delete all partitions on the destination drive and recreate them (which means it or they will be reformatted prior to installing Windows). Alternatively, you could boot from a win 98 startup floppy and use fdisk to repartition and format to format the newly created partition(s)...

www.bootdisk.com

SpectralMatter · 09-17-2006, 01:17 PM

Right, I'm just making sure the Gateway WinXP Media Center Operating System Disc (as it's called) will work on a non-Gateway PC. As in, it won't accept any other CD Key, registration code, etc. than what the Gateway PC had.

anystupidname · 09-17-2006, 01:49 PM

If the disk is proprietary, I don't know. It doesn't really matter anyway though. You have the disk from Gateway, so you own a Winblows license which means you can legally install that version of winblows using anything you like. This would include a friend's copied MCE disk. I think the worst thing that is likely to happen though would be the install asking you for drivers for your custom hardware.

Volt-Schwibe · 09-17-2006, 02:28 PM

it almost sounds to me like you are attempting to misuse your "gateway recovery cd"

in regards to:

Quote:

Originally Posted by anystupidname

It doesn't really matter anyway though. You have the disk from Gateway, so you own a Winblows license which means you can legally install that version of winblows using anything you like.

this is NOT true. you are not legally allowed to install that to anything other than the machine it was originally licensed for.

i feel it's important to note that this is not debatable, as microsoft has made it extremely easy to verify what i've just stated.

hopefully, all of our members will respect our rules on this matter.
(we hate handing out warnings.)

from the official microsoft site:

Quote:

9. Can I transfer my operating system license from an old PC to a new one?
ANSWER. Not unless it was purchased as a Full-Packaged Product from a retail store (i.e., Windows in a box). Current OEM licenses for all Microsoft operating system products are not transferable from one machine to another. The End User License Agreement (EULA) governs the terms for transfer of licenses. Some EULAs for copies of certain older OEM operating system products (i.e., MS-DOS®, Windows® 3.1, and Windows for Workgroups 3.1) distributed in 1995 or earlier may permit transfer of the OEM operating system software license under limited circumstances. *(See Software Product Transfer section of your End User License Agreement.)*

10. If I “retire” a PC with an OEM license on it, can I use that software on a new PC?
ANSWER. No. To put it simply, OEM product is “married” to the original PC on which it was installed. Current OEM licenses are not transferable from one machine to another. The software cannot be moved from PC to PC, even if the original PC it was installed on is no longer in use. This is true for all OEM software – operating systems and applications.

SpectralMatter · 09-17-2006, 03:49 PM

Ahhh I see. It didn't even occur to me that would be a misuse of it. So are there any alternatives? Or am I just stuck with what I have

09-17-2006, 01:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
SpectralMatter Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 7 OS: XP	Just a quick question to make sure I have a PC I would really like to reformat my drive on. It's just generally been bulked up with an outrageous amount of files accumulated over the years, and the idea of a clean slate is a really refreshing thought. Here's where the problem comes in. I recently moved, and in all that confusion, I've lost my original cd. We recently bought a computer from Gateway, and that came with a Windows XP Media Center reinstallation CD. I use Windows XP Media Center on the PC I would like reformatted, but it's custom built by myself, and I don't want to risk trying to reformat using this CD, if it's just going to come back to bite me. If this is impossible, could anybody recommend any other methods of doing this without the original cd? Or is this itself impossible? Thanks in advance

09-17-2006, 01:49 PM	#4 (permalink)
anystupidname Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 13 OS: Linux	If the disk is proprietary, I don't know. It doesn't really matter anyway though. You have the disk from Gateway, so you own a Winblows license which means you can legally install that version of winblows using anything you like. This would include a friend's copied MCE disk. I think the worst thing that is likely to happen though would be the install asking you for drivers for your custom hardware. Last edited by anystupidname : 09-17-2006 at 01:51 PM.

09-17-2006, 01:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
anystupidname Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 13 OS: Linux	When booting from a Windows install CD/DVD, you're giving a choice delete all partitions on the destination drive and recreate them (which means it or they will be reformatted prior to installing Windows). Alternatively, you could boot from a win 98 startup floppy and use fdisk to repartition and format to format the newly created partition(s)... www.bootdisk.com

09-17-2006, 01:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
SpectralMatter Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 7 OS: XP	Right, I'm just making sure the Gateway WinXP Media Center Operating System Disc (as it's called) will work on a non-Gateway PC. As in, it won't accept any other CD Key, registration code, etc. than what the Gateway PC had.

09-17-2006, 03:49 PM	#6 (permalink)
SpectralMatter Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 7 OS: XP	Ahhh I see. It didn't even occur to me that would be a misuse of it. So are there any alternatives? Or am I just stuck with what I have